Help!

[l2azlDazl]

New to the forum, so Hi everyone. Name is Darran.

Ok, so I'm doing a bit of DIY. I'm building a flat wall in my sitting room across a centred chimney breast and 2 alcoves.

I'm also wall mounting the Tv with the Sky box and a PS3 on a double shelf below the TV, and a wall mounted electric fire below that.

Issue: {and I'm a novice btw}

I have 1 main electrical cable running down the side of the chimney breast to work with.

What I need is to be able to supply power to all of the above {TV, Sky box, PS3 & Fire}

Any advice would be fantastic!

I was thinking of using a junction box to wire up 2 double sockets, but not sure if this is possible.

Remember, I'm a complete novice at this.

Thanks guys 

 

[Riggy]

The cable you have access to, do you know what it currently feeds?

 

[SPECIAL LOCATION]

As Riggy said..

we need to know what this cable actually is before anyone can say if or how it can be extended.. 

The TV, Sky box, PS3 shouldn't be too much of a load...

but do you know what rating your fire is?

i.e.  How many KiloWatts it is?

 

[pewter]

if it was my house i wouldnt mount a tv above a fire.

though i have done it for customers befor

 

[ProDave]

Like others, need to know what the cable is feeding at the moment and where it comes from.

building a wall like that will be wasting the space of the alcoves. Are you leaving them as shelving or cupboards.

One major "problem" with hanging flat screen tv's on the wall, is where to put the sky box etc.  In this case you have the perfect solution, to build in a recessed shelf for them to sit on in one of the alcoves with their fronts flush with the wall.

So from that point of view just make sure you build in enough AV cables from the tv to the sky shelf to connect all your av kit.

you will need sockets in the back of the AV shelf and another one behind the tv.  You might want to buy the tv bracket first and see how it sits on the wall before deciding the socket position. The trend today with ever slimmer tv's and ever skinnier brackets often leaves little or no space to get a socket behind the tv.

 

[l2azlDazl]

Tnx for the fast replies!

The cable was fed into and on/off switch. There was another wire {same as the feed} connected in the box and looping back out to feed a blank plate. 

The secondary feed wire was wired into this. There was an electric fire also wired into this. So the ON/OFF switch supplied power to the fire. Sorry if I don't have the terminology. Hope this pic helps. This is behind the blank plate I was referring to.

***Won't let me post a link to the pic until I have 10 posts lol***

PS. The heating elements of the fire will never be turned on. Purely aesthetic with the lights.

The new fire I'm putting on is 1800w

 

[l2azlDazl]

http://www.dropbox.com/s/f5sd1tr46ungqk9/2013-03-17%2019.27.43.jpg

Thanks for that Canoeboy

 

[ProDave]

What sort of switch? (I guess the pic will answer that)

Is there a light on the switch to show when it's turned on? If so, then by a process of elimination, you can find out what fuse or circuit breaker feeds it and what rating that is.

 

[l2azlDazl]

Red on/off light. Says on back Load - Feed & 250V

 

[l2azlDazl]

Could I use a 4 way Junction box to fit 2 double sockets off of this cable?

The plug on the new fire going in says 13amp 250v if that helps

 

[ProDave]

First picture was a "flex outlet plate"

With your mystery switch turned on, and therefore it's light on, go to your consumer unit (or fuse box) and turn off the mcb's (or pull the fuses) one at a time, and let us know which one the switch is fed from.

Don't forget to shut down your computer etc first so it doesn't go off on one when it loses it's power.

Could I use a 4 way Junction box to fit 2 double sockets off of this cable?

you are jumping the gun a bit until we identify what the cable is fed from.

Assuming it is of an adequate rating then I would be suggesting replacing your switch with a switched, fused connection unit, and feeding your sockets from that. It will give you one point of isolation for all your AV kit.

But don't embark on that until you have identified for us what feeds this switch. 

 

[l2azlDazl]

Ok... the wire is fed from a 100A fuse box. The fire {therefore the cable} is supplied from a 16A Mcb...

{Remember the sole purpose of this cable initially was to supply power to the original fire}

 

[l2azlDazl]

building a wall like that will be wasting the space of the alcoves. Are you leaving them as shelving or cupboards.

We're just gonna get rid of the alcoves. Using a single bracket/double shelf for the PS3 and Sky box, so one on top of each other.

Still need to figure out where I'm going to place the socket for them, but need to figure out this wiring issue. #head is pickled lol

 

[ProDave]

Now you know this is a 16A feed, you can connect to it to feed your sockets as a radial circuit, and your heater. Use a switched FCU for the heater.

there's the small matter of RCD protection to consider.  Is there an RCD feeding this MCB in your consumer unit?

If so you are fine.  If not, then your new wiring must either be on the surface (in trunking) or it must be burried more than 50mm deep in the wall (which should be easy to achieve with a stud wall)

 

[Doc Hudson]

The socket outlets should be RCD protected anyway irrespective of how the cables are run, unless they are dedicated and labeled appropriately. An RCD fused spur may be a suitable solution if no RCD's at the CU.

Doc H.

 

[ProDave]

The socket outlets should be RCD protected anyway irrespective of how the cables are run, unless they are dedicated and labeled appropriately. An RCD fused spur may be a suitable solution if no RCD's at the CU.

Doc H.

Good point, but I was working on the assumption they were clearly for a dedicated purpose, one being at the back of a recessed AV shelf, and one high on the wall behind a flat screen tv. Nobody is going to plug the hoover into either of those. 

 

[l2azlDazl]

Guys... Thank you! Absolutely fantastic. I'll be sure and post a pic of the finished job. 

Materials arrive first thing tomorrow morning... Wish me luck lol

Again... Thankyou all. REALLY appreciate the feedback on this one

Darran

 

[l2azlDazl]

Apologies for the delay getting back to you on this. Been a busy couple of weeks. Got the sitting room  finished thanks to your electrical advice.

Wired up a 3 way junction box to a triple socket, and the original on/off switch for the fire. Everything is running great!

Couple of pics showing before and after... 

Once again, Thank you for your invaluable advice!  :Applaud

 

[ProDave]

Glad the stripey wallpaper has gone. Now just the stripey carpet to change 

(note smiley)

A neat job, but I'm an old fashioned old duffer and I would have left it with the alcoves, and put a nice wood burning stove in there.

 

[betty swollocks]

I liked it better before ; -p